Two distillers in the southern city of Liuzhou have been found to be putting the substance Sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra, into three baijiu – also known as rice wine – products.
According to Reuters, a statement on the Lizhou Food and Drug Administration website said that officers confiscated 5,357 bottles of suspect products, 1,124kg of raw alcohol and a batch of white powder labelled Sildenafil.
The products were marketed as having health-preserving qualities, it said.
Additional ingredients touted for their health-boosting properties are not uncommon in Chinese alcohol, with many traditionally containing natural plant and animal extracts.
But, in a nation that has been shaken by a number of devastating food safety infractions, the inclusion of such a potent chemical drug in alcohol products is bound to ring alarm bells.
In 2008, the dairy sector was rocked by news that six babies had died after consuming baby milk that had been tainted by Melanine.
And, in June this year, police in cities across China seized more than 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat that had been thawed and refrozen, with some believed to be over 40 years old.
Ellie Clayton
